Its been long since i took one of the crazy SolarNow trips, but now the traveller has got his back pack. Toay i am heading to the furthest of Norther Uganda, specifically Arua where i will be training on how to start sales agents for the solar retailers and then on thursday will head to Lira and be back on Saturday.
I feel abit low since i had gotten used to staaying in kampal, but i have to go anyone. I woke up early ready to go and only to miss the first bus that left at 5 am. Now i am waiting for the 12.30 pm bus so that we hit the road.I have no clue how long its going to take me but roughly not less than 10 hours.
well i am looking forward to it, the fact that is been two months ago since i left kampala.
The Alladins team is up and running, they are in the middle of working magic, we have 60th anniversary celebratios on 25th october and preparations for the Africn regional conference (AFROXLDS).
Arua here i come! Updates in the next posting.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
17 principles of Personal Achievement,Keys to success by Napoleon Hill
Book: The 17 principles of personal Achievement
Author: Napoleon Hill
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The Author is presenting ideas or principles that can help me live a successful life if I consistenly apply them in my life. All the 17 principles point towards an individual, which literally means that I am or we are responsible for our success.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
a- establishing a master mind alliance
I have two friends with whom we formed a group to help each other with finding solutions to our challenges, evaluating each other’s goals and discussing topics of common interest like business. Through this team I feel like I am in a family, we share ideas and resources. I have managed to make right decisions; approach situations differenetly and most importantly tap into their personal learnings through sharing experiences. We meet every Friday and the topics to be discussed are set in the previous meeting.
b- Overcoming disbelief and fear.
Disbelief and Fear are some of the reasons why we donot reach our goals or live our dream life. When I believe in something, chances that it will be achieved are high. Everytime I do something that I fear , I find out that in the end there is no reason for fear. Through reading this book I have been reminded that whatever my mind can concieve and believe, it will achieve. So if I fear illness, then its most likely that I am attracting it to my life and eventually I will be sick which I donot want.
c- Go the extra mile.
From this chapter I appreciate the benefits of doing more than what you are paid for. At our work places we are given a job description that clearly outlines what we are supposed to do and this is based on previous work experience and academic background. The only way to showcase other skills and ccompetencies that you have is through going the extra mile.This makes promotion easy because you have been able to show that you are skilled in other areas. On a personla note, i have found out the things that I am passionate and good at through doing something more. Extra work creates more opportunities and many times opportunity is missed by many because it is dressed in overall and looks like work.
d- Personal initiative creates work.
Besides my Job at the Foundation, I have been helping a start up solar company with creating market for its products in Uganda. After 2 months of working with them, I took the initiative of starting up, a small solar business for my cousin who has been jobless. From this experience of taking initiative I created a job for him and he is also employing 2 other people.
e- Learning from adversity and defeat.
Life is a combination of successes and defeats. Failure or defeat is success turn inside out. In 2006 I applied to be a president of AIESEC Uganda, which I ended up being defeated miserably. I spent the next 2 days condemning other people for my defeat other than myself. Later on after a discussion with my friend he told me to look at how I have contributed to my defeat and also focus on the lessons learnt. This helped me so much that I learnt to take 100% responsibility for the outcomes in life and not making the same mistakes again. Every one in life faces defeat. It is through learning from defeats that people become wiser and this is the reason why learning from adversity and defeat is very important to me.
f- Maintaining sound Health
This is the most important of all the principles that I have read, because if I am not health I won’t be able to do anything. ill health leads high health bills, low concentration on work and time wastage in hospital queues to get treatment. What and how much I eat does affect the thinking capacity of my brain.
g- Budget your time and money.
There is a famous saying that time is money, there fore time wasted is money wasted hence the need to budget your time and money. I invested in a diary so that I can keep track of the major appointments that I have. Every morning I make a to do list which helps in making sure that i do the most important things for that day.
At the start of 2008, I started budgeting and accounting for personal finances. I learnt the hard way when at the end of 2007, I had spent the foundation money to a tune of 500 Euros and I did not know where that money went. Ever since then I know where my money goes in terms of expenditures.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
The group that we formed is a daily tool that I use for critical decision making, problem solving and personal development. Everytime I am faced with a challenge or decision and I donot know what to do,I ask for ideas from my friends. This has helped me make right choices. Through sharing my learnings I have also helped them be better by offering a different perspective.
Disbelief and fear are manifestations of lack of confidence in your self and what you are going to do. I used to FEAR meeting people in superior positions and one day I was a part of a team, which was responsible for sales. I had to set up a meeting with a managing Director of the biggest insurance company world wide, I got an appointment for the following day. As I prepared for the meeting I asked myself what a second year university student is going to tell the managing director. Even though I knew what to tell, I felt that it was insufficient and he would not buy it. The day came and everything went smoothly, I was amazed by his sense of humour. From that day I face my fears and I try to do things that make me uncomfortable but most important is the change in attitude and thinking of possible instead of impossible.Doing this has helped me achieve many of my goals because I am not afraid to act.
Extra work will always be rewarded; either today or after months. I now view extra work as working for future benefits. To do more than what I am paid for, I have to manage time effectively otherwise I won’t have time for extra work.
To put personal initiative to work I have to develop some facets like more self discipline, generating enthusiasm,concentrating attentio to others etc. I feel I have to further develop the above characteristics so that I can gain full benefits of personal initiatitve.
I have learnt that adversity and defeat has benefits. My task regarding this will be to focus on lessons from defeat and to look at defeat as a road to success that every successful individual has to go through. Taking 100% responsibilty during defeat will help me get back on my knees after failure. The difference between successful people and non successful ones is the ability to try again many times after defeat.
I am going to increase on the time for exercising, personal reflection. I am very conscious of what I eat these days. I have days for myself and these days I will do the things that I like or enjoy doing.
Prioritising tasks will help me be more efficient at work hence doing more than I am paid for. I plan to budget my spare time and use it for things that will improve on my personal and professional development and health. Reading the books that I get from the institute has prooved to be a valuable way of utilising spare time.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“Solutions can be found for all your problems, but accept that the solutions may not always be the one you want”.
Solutions that we want are the ones that we are used to, but they we won’t get what we want all the time. The challenge for us is to be flexible enough inorder to adopt to the changing solutions even if they make us uncomfortable.
“…Success is something that you create for yourself, not something others steal from you”.
I am responsible for my success! I should not blame others for not achieivng my goals and objectives.
“When defeat overtakes you, don’t spend your time counting your losses, save I to count your gains and assets, and you will realise that they are greater than any loss you have suffered.”Most of the times we tend to focus more on our failures forgetting that we have had more successes than defeat. Spending time counting and thinking about success during times of defeat helps to turn defeat into success.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
Doing more than you are paid for will only be beneficial if its done after you have done what is required of you. We have to make sure that we donot fall victims of doing what we are not expected to.
I disagree with the statement that, learn to like people just as they are instead of demanding that they be just as you want them to be. What if who they are contradicts with your personal values, what if they are poor time keepers, not result oriented yet you are working with them in the same team? I believe that you can only like the people the way they are as long they donot compromise your values or not negatively affecting your professional perfromance at work.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes I did the exercises at the end of the book that were about my commitments to applying the principles.7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
The story of the eleven year old shoe shinner. When Chalmers asked the boy if he can make a living at a nickel a shine. He replied “oh yes sir.i give my mother ten dollars on Friday, and I put five dollars in the bank, and I have two dollars left for spending money”. This shows that the boy had financial literacy, he saved five dollars per month.The other lesson for me is that I donot have to be earning a lot of money inorder to save.
One way of building a positive mental attitude is to discern that personal power doesnot come from posession of material things alone. This statement is an encouragement that any one can make a difference with what they have. We donot have to wait to be presidents, kings or celebrities to make a positive impact in our communities.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.A.
How interesting was it to read? 9B.
How helpful were the contents? 9C.
How easy was it to understand? 9D.
Would you recommend it to others? 10E.
What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Author: Napoleon Hill
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The Author is presenting ideas or principles that can help me live a successful life if I consistenly apply them in my life. All the 17 principles point towards an individual, which literally means that I am or we are responsible for our success.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
a- establishing a master mind alliance
I have two friends with whom we formed a group to help each other with finding solutions to our challenges, evaluating each other’s goals and discussing topics of common interest like business. Through this team I feel like I am in a family, we share ideas and resources. I have managed to make right decisions; approach situations differenetly and most importantly tap into their personal learnings through sharing experiences. We meet every Friday and the topics to be discussed are set in the previous meeting.
b- Overcoming disbelief and fear.
Disbelief and Fear are some of the reasons why we donot reach our goals or live our dream life. When I believe in something, chances that it will be achieved are high. Everytime I do something that I fear , I find out that in the end there is no reason for fear. Through reading this book I have been reminded that whatever my mind can concieve and believe, it will achieve. So if I fear illness, then its most likely that I am attracting it to my life and eventually I will be sick which I donot want.
c- Go the extra mile.
From this chapter I appreciate the benefits of doing more than what you are paid for. At our work places we are given a job description that clearly outlines what we are supposed to do and this is based on previous work experience and academic background. The only way to showcase other skills and ccompetencies that you have is through going the extra mile.This makes promotion easy because you have been able to show that you are skilled in other areas. On a personla note, i have found out the things that I am passionate and good at through doing something more. Extra work creates more opportunities and many times opportunity is missed by many because it is dressed in overall and looks like work.
d- Personal initiative creates work.
Besides my Job at the Foundation, I have been helping a start up solar company with creating market for its products in Uganda. After 2 months of working with them, I took the initiative of starting up, a small solar business for my cousin who has been jobless. From this experience of taking initiative I created a job for him and he is also employing 2 other people.
e- Learning from adversity and defeat.
Life is a combination of successes and defeats. Failure or defeat is success turn inside out. In 2006 I applied to be a president of AIESEC Uganda, which I ended up being defeated miserably. I spent the next 2 days condemning other people for my defeat other than myself. Later on after a discussion with my friend he told me to look at how I have contributed to my defeat and also focus on the lessons learnt. This helped me so much that I learnt to take 100% responsibility for the outcomes in life and not making the same mistakes again. Every one in life faces defeat. It is through learning from defeats that people become wiser and this is the reason why learning from adversity and defeat is very important to me.
f- Maintaining sound Health
This is the most important of all the principles that I have read, because if I am not health I won’t be able to do anything. ill health leads high health bills, low concentration on work and time wastage in hospital queues to get treatment. What and how much I eat does affect the thinking capacity of my brain.
g- Budget your time and money.
There is a famous saying that time is money, there fore time wasted is money wasted hence the need to budget your time and money. I invested in a diary so that I can keep track of the major appointments that I have. Every morning I make a to do list which helps in making sure that i do the most important things for that day.
At the start of 2008, I started budgeting and accounting for personal finances. I learnt the hard way when at the end of 2007, I had spent the foundation money to a tune of 500 Euros and I did not know where that money went. Ever since then I know where my money goes in terms of expenditures.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
The group that we formed is a daily tool that I use for critical decision making, problem solving and personal development. Everytime I am faced with a challenge or decision and I donot know what to do,I ask for ideas from my friends. This has helped me make right choices. Through sharing my learnings I have also helped them be better by offering a different perspective.
Disbelief and fear are manifestations of lack of confidence in your self and what you are going to do. I used to FEAR meeting people in superior positions and one day I was a part of a team, which was responsible for sales. I had to set up a meeting with a managing Director of the biggest insurance company world wide, I got an appointment for the following day. As I prepared for the meeting I asked myself what a second year university student is going to tell the managing director. Even though I knew what to tell, I felt that it was insufficient and he would not buy it. The day came and everything went smoothly, I was amazed by his sense of humour. From that day I face my fears and I try to do things that make me uncomfortable but most important is the change in attitude and thinking of possible instead of impossible.Doing this has helped me achieve many of my goals because I am not afraid to act.
Extra work will always be rewarded; either today or after months. I now view extra work as working for future benefits. To do more than what I am paid for, I have to manage time effectively otherwise I won’t have time for extra work.
To put personal initiative to work I have to develop some facets like more self discipline, generating enthusiasm,concentrating attentio to others etc. I feel I have to further develop the above characteristics so that I can gain full benefits of personal initiatitve.
I have learnt that adversity and defeat has benefits. My task regarding this will be to focus on lessons from defeat and to look at defeat as a road to success that every successful individual has to go through. Taking 100% responsibilty during defeat will help me get back on my knees after failure. The difference between successful people and non successful ones is the ability to try again many times after defeat.
I am going to increase on the time for exercising, personal reflection. I am very conscious of what I eat these days. I have days for myself and these days I will do the things that I like or enjoy doing.
Prioritising tasks will help me be more efficient at work hence doing more than I am paid for. I plan to budget my spare time and use it for things that will improve on my personal and professional development and health. Reading the books that I get from the institute has prooved to be a valuable way of utilising spare time.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“Solutions can be found for all your problems, but accept that the solutions may not always be the one you want”.
Solutions that we want are the ones that we are used to, but they we won’t get what we want all the time. The challenge for us is to be flexible enough inorder to adopt to the changing solutions even if they make us uncomfortable.
“…Success is something that you create for yourself, not something others steal from you”.
I am responsible for my success! I should not blame others for not achieivng my goals and objectives.
“When defeat overtakes you, don’t spend your time counting your losses, save I to count your gains and assets, and you will realise that they are greater than any loss you have suffered.”Most of the times we tend to focus more on our failures forgetting that we have had more successes than defeat. Spending time counting and thinking about success during times of defeat helps to turn defeat into success.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
Doing more than you are paid for will only be beneficial if its done after you have done what is required of you. We have to make sure that we donot fall victims of doing what we are not expected to.
I disagree with the statement that, learn to like people just as they are instead of demanding that they be just as you want them to be. What if who they are contradicts with your personal values, what if they are poor time keepers, not result oriented yet you are working with them in the same team? I believe that you can only like the people the way they are as long they donot compromise your values or not negatively affecting your professional perfromance at work.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes I did the exercises at the end of the book that were about my commitments to applying the principles.7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
The story of the eleven year old shoe shinner. When Chalmers asked the boy if he can make a living at a nickel a shine. He replied “oh yes sir.i give my mother ten dollars on Friday, and I put five dollars in the bank, and I have two dollars left for spending money”. This shows that the boy had financial literacy, he saved five dollars per month.The other lesson for me is that I donot have to be earning a lot of money inorder to save.
One way of building a positive mental attitude is to discern that personal power doesnot come from posession of material things alone. This statement is an encouragement that any one can make a difference with what they have. We donot have to wait to be presidents, kings or celebrities to make a positive impact in our communities.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.A.
How interesting was it to read? 9B.
How helpful were the contents? 9C.
How easy was it to understand? 9D.
Would you recommend it to others? 10E.
What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
International Congress - Brazil
In late August i got the opportunity to attend an AIESEC International Congress in Brazil.
It was a great experience full of learning, unlearning, networking and loads of fun.
I had three days after the congress. I spent these three days in Hotel Delverde, where we had the Afrcan GN Post meeting. THE organising committee also stayed in the same hotel. Through out the three days i noticed how hard the OC worked and also saw them celebrate their success. Time came for all of us to part ways and head to our various countries, it was an emotional moment, people cried, huged and promised to keep in touch.
Before i left the hotel, a colourful flipcharts with a lot of words caught my eyes and i though i should share these words with those who read my blog; these were the words
It was a great experience full of learning, unlearning, networking and loads of fun.
I had three days after the congress. I spent these three days in Hotel Delverde, where we had the Afrcan GN Post meeting. THE organising committee also stayed in the same hotel. Through out the three days i noticed how hard the OC worked and also saw them celebrate their success. Time came for all of us to part ways and head to our various countries, it was an emotional moment, people cried, huged and promised to keep in touch.
Before i left the hotel, a colourful flipcharts with a lot of words caught my eyes and i though i should share these words with those who read my blog; these were the words
.Each year its just another round of the earth around the
sun.
Each day it’s a new day opportunity to start again.
Each day you are
close to your death
Each day its your first day in something the rest of your
days starts today.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
HAPPY NEW EXPERIENCES
HAPPY REST OF
YOUR LIFE
HAPPY START OF A NEW JOURNEY
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)